184?.] Notes on the Antiquities of B hoped. 741 



The remains of the embankment across the Betwah, show that it 

 may have been about a hundred feet in height and perhaps three hun- 

 dred yards in length at the top. The dam across the hollow is scarcely 

 a mile in length, so that the place selected was in every way well 

 adapted for the object in view. The artificial part of this dam may be 

 about 30 feet high where most lofty, and it forms a roadway from fifty 

 to sixty feet in width. The embankment at Bhopal still serves its ori- 

 ginal purpose. All three have been formed of a mass of rocks and 

 earth heaped together, and faced with blocks of stone from 3 to 6 feet 

 long by 2 or 3 feet wide and 1|- to 2| feet thick, laid so as to form a 

 considerable angle and to present a sloping surface on either side. The 

 work looks gigantic, and although the sandstone blocks were procurable 

 on the spot, the prodigality of labour bestowed, shows rather the material 

 power of the prince than the scientific poverty of his engineers. To the 

 careless observer the whole work may appear to be one of the many 

 idle acts of which despotism has been guilty, and yet I imagine that 

 among the ancients of Asia as of Europe, more simplicity of mind and 

 singleness of object prevailed than among the moderns of either conti- 

 nent. I doubt not that Raja Bhoj's labourers and mechanics sympathized 

 with the motives of their prince, and readily presented themselves to 

 execute a work, which may have conveyed some religious merit even to 

 them, and which it is more than likely the Raja commenced with his 

 own hands while he exhorted the workmen to persevere by personal 

 attentions and occasional donations. 



Malcolm had heard that Raja Bhoj built a city on the banks of his 

 lake, but it does not appear that he designed more than the erection of 

 a temple, which was begun, but has never been completed. The temple 

 stands on the hill at the southern end of the dam across the Betwah ; 

 it is surrounded by the houses of a small village called Bhoj poor, but 

 the only other remains, are some rude shrines dedicated to modern 

 divinities, a plain Jain temple containing a figure of Parisnath, about 

 20 feet high, and the remains of the foundations of slight walls showing 

 the square outline of a building never completed or nearly obliterated. 



The temple of Raja Bhoj is dedicated to Shiv or Mahadeo. Its base 

 forms a square of about 62 feet, and it may be nearly as many feet in 

 height. The external walls are about 10 feet thick, and the unfinished 

 dome of elaborate workmanship, is supported by four pillars, probably 



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